VZCZCXRO7966
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0229 1841010
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021010Z JUL 08
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1735
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3174
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS CHENNAI 000229 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV IN
SUBJECT: ANDRHA'S TDP ROCKED BY SECOND-IN-COMMAND'S RESIGNATION 
 
REF:  CHENNAI 197 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a major regional 
party based in the South Indian state Andhra Pradesh, suffered a 
serious blow when the party's second-in-command, T. Devender Goud, 
resigned on June 23.  Goud, who had been a member of the party since 
1987, broke with the TDP to protest the party's failure to take a 
definitive stand on whether the historically backward Telangana 
region deserves separate statehood.  His resignation resuscitates 
the Telangana statehood movement and strengthens Congress's hand 
against the TDP in the upcoming elections.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Goud, the opposition TDP's Deputy Leader in the state 
legislature, resigned on June 23 saying he was doing so to allow 
himself to devote his time and energy to achieving separate 
statehood for Telangana.  Goud held important positions in state 
government when the TDP was in power, including as Home Minister 
from 1999 to 2004 when he oversaw the TDP government's aggressive 
policy towards the Maoist insurgency in the state.  A native son of 
Telangana, Goud has alternated between pressuring TDP chief 
Chandrababu Naidu to support separate statehood and accepting 
Naidu's ambiguous statements on the issue.  In recent years Goud has 
taken an increasingly pro-Telangana line that put him at odds with 
Naidu.  In 2006 he conducted a walking tour of nine districts to 
highlight the need for development in Telangana, and, in 2007, Goud 
attended the NGO-sponsored "Telangana Development Forum."  Goud's 
agitation for Telangana-specific development was controversial as it 
was seen as contrary to Naidu's "united Andhra" policy.  Later Naidu 
sought to placate Goud and the pro-Telangana faction he represented 
by forming a five member "core committee" to deliberate on the 
issue, with Goud as the sole representative from Telangana.  Most 
recently, Naidu canceled the TDP's annual party convention to avoid 
the possibility of a confrontation over the issue. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Telangana returned to center stage after the results of 
the May 29 by-elections were released.  The by-elections had been 
necessitated by the mass resignations of elected representative of 
the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), a single-issue party dedicated 
to achieving separate statehood.  The TRS was routed in the 
by-elections, which Naidu (as well as the popular media) interpreted 
as reflecting a lack of popular support for separate statehood 
(reftel).  But Goud argued that the TRS failed in the by-elections 
for lack of leadership, not due to a lack of pro-Telangana 
sentiment.  After a number of pro-Telangana TDP officials voiced 
their support for Goud and the call for separate statehood, Naidu 
called a June 18 core committee meeting to discuss the Telangana 
statehood issue.  Goud found himself isolated at the core committee 
meeting as Naidu had persuaded the other pro-Telangana party 
officials to side with him.  Goud, expecting expulsion from the 
party after the core committee meeting, resigned on June 23.  On 
June 28, Goud announced that he would work to build a movement for 
statehood.  When we asked whether he would form his own 
pro-Telangana party, Goud said, "Ultimately, it will go that way 
only." 
¶4. (SBU) In damage control mode, Naidu held a videoconference with 
TDP officials from Telangana who all made public assurances that 
they had no intentions of leaving the party.  Naidu also named a TDP 
Member of Parliament from Telangana to replace Goud on the party's 
"core committee."  TDP surrogates took pains to point out that no 
other Telangana-based TDP officials followed Goud out of the party 
despite expectations that some would go with him. 
¶5. (SBU) Comment:  By providing a credible alternative to the TRS's 
¶K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Goud's resignation resuscitates a Telangana 
statehood movement that was on the ropes after the TRS was routed in 
the by-elections in significant part due to voter frustration the 
mercurial TRS chieftain. In the short run, the resignation benefits 
Congress.  Naidu clearly overplayed his hand in the wake of the 
by-election results; his statements that the by-elections 
demonstrated the weakness of pro-Telangana sentiment appear to have 
driven Goud -- both his number two and the TDP's most prominent 
Telangana face -- out of the party.  Despite Naidu's efforts to put 
on a brave face, Goud's resignation comes at a difficult time for 
his party.  The TDP is struggling to find its voice in the face of 
continued public support for Congress Chief Minister Reddy's 
populist programs.  Naidu has lurched between complaining of rampant 
corruption in Reddy's programs to claiming that he would implement 
even more welfare and development projects than the Congress 
government.  Goud's resignation will further damage the TDP's 
prospects in Telangana, where it had problems to begin with.  So 
long as Chief Minister Reddy can continue to keep a lid on the 
pro-Telangana voices in his own Congress party, Naidu's problem with 
the issue will improve Congress's chances of staying in power in the 
state (where elections will be held in 2009) and retaining the 31 of 
Andhra Pradesh's 42 parliamentary seats it holds.  End comment. 
HOPPER